The Monitor. [volume] (Woodstown, N.J.) 1884-1892, 1887-09-30

me so ulucn haFuly KNOW what 40 say
sometimes"
"Kate, your help, is quite as bad Nellie,
for yesterday she was getting ready to visit
her sister, who lives in the country, and
Harry wanted to go with her. She told
him that there was a bear in the woods
that she had to go through. I told her
she ought not to tell him such things, but
she only laughed and said: 'Oh, the missus
don't care, she tells 'em such little fibs
herself Have said enough, Nellie?."
"No, aunty, tell me all that you have
seen. l know you are a true friend and
that every word is meant for my good.
Please go on"
"Nellie, my child, all this IS having a
bad effect upon Dick. 1t is weakening his
respect for you. When he wanted to go
with the Martin boys, you told him that
he must not go with them, because they
were not good boys. He asked what they
did that was SO bad. Among other things,
you said they were u%ntruthful, that no one
could believe anything they said. Dick
laughed and said: ooh, that's nothing:
lots of folks tell fbs;' which showed very
plainly that he had no high regard for
truth. Truthfulness will never be a lead
ing or prominent trait in any ones charac-
ter, unless the principles of truth are in
culcated in early childhood. School-life
will develop more fully the evils of un-
truthfulness; for those who have no fixed
principles to guide and restrain them, find
it easy to escape the consequences of wrong
doing by prevaricat:ng, or by telling down
right falsehoods. And later in life, the
man or woman, who in childhood learned
to deceive, will find it easy to practice de-
ception in their business and social life.
Nellie, truthfulness lies at the very foun-
dation of all right doing"
Nellie had been crying softly while her
aunt was speaking, when she exclaimed
impulsively; 81 wish you had been here
years ago, or that you had benny teacher
when l was a child. l never knew a
mothers care, and my teachers cared more
for my manners than for my principles. l
stand in need of training, as well as my
boys, and l shall have to get the beams out
of my own eyes before l can help my boys
much. But you have opened my eyes,
and I'll never willingly close them again.
| have been wickedly thoughtless, but |
will try to undo the wrong | nave done"
And Nellie did try. but the habits that
have been forming for years, are not easily
broken. Weeds had SO long choked the
good seed i'll Nellie's own heart that it
took careful tending to make it terminate
and grow. In her need she learned to de-
pend upon the divine helper, and then her
work grew easier, and the good seed bore
fruit. Aunt Jennie visits them every year,
and always receives a %rapturous welcome.
She finds no skeleton liz the closet now,
nor flaw in the diamond. The boys are
sturdy, manly and conscientious, and very
much in love with their pretty little
mother, who is the sun and center of their
happy home. Kate has learned that the
"Missus'' does care, and in consequence,
her respect for her has greatly increased,
and she is now very careful to speak the
exact truth.
Once when Aunt Jenny was visiting
them, Nellie said:
"Aunty I never quite understood the
meaning of the text, Faithful are the
wounds of a friend, until you gave me
that little lecture of truthfulness. l don't
know what would have become of us all,
if you had not opened my eyes" Aunt
Jenny smiled and said, my dear Nellie,
very few are so willing to ASar and heed as
you were. 1t is one thing to give good
advice, but it is quite another to take and
act upon it. You acted very wisely my
dear."-Annie 3. Green, IN Christian In
struct0r.